CIP

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By Holden Mann MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — NERC and utility operators see considerable benefit from applying digital technologies to the power grid, but adopters must take their vulnerabilities into account as well. During a panel on digitization at NERC’s Member Representatives Committee meeting on Feb. 5, moderator Sylvain Clermont, director...

By Christen Smith and Rich Heidorn Jr. VALLEY FORGE, Pa. — Consumer advocates, industrial customers and state regulators asked FERC last week to reject the PJM Transmission Owner sector’s critical infrastructure mitigation plan as filed, saying it lacks transparency and improperly restricts input by stakeholders and the RTO. But PJM...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. NERC has opened a 45-day formal comment period on proposed reliability standards addressing cybersecurity supply chain risks. Project 2019-03 was initiated in response to FERC Order 850, which directed NERC to submit modifications to address electronic access control or monitoring systems (EACMS) that provide electronic access...

By Holden Mann and Rich Heidorn Jr. FERC on Wednesday accepted NERC Notices of Penalty against the Bonneville Power Administration, Idaho Power and the Niles Light Department. There were no monetary penalties. The commission said it would not review NP20-5 regarding BPA or NP20-6, a spreadsheet NOP. The spreadsheet included...

By Holden Mann FERC on Thursday approved NERC reliability standards affecting transmission system planning performance and communications cybersecurity, while also proposing to streamline the ERO’s list of requirements. Protection System Preparedness The first standard approved at FERC’s open meeting was TPL-001-5, which NERC proposed last year because of concerns that...

By Holden Mann and Rich Heidorn Jr. Hackers who once focused on the industrial control systems of oil and gas producers have been increasingly targeting the electric grid since 2018, according to a new report by ICS security firm Dragos. The company said electric, oil and gas infrastructure of all...

By Holden Mann FERC Commissioner Richard Glick warned that the commission’s recent order regarding Duke Energy’s accounting treatment of its cybersecurity program sends a signal that it will let utilities sidestep its rules when convenient. The order issued Thursday allows Duke to treat its Cybersecurity Informational Technology-Operational Technology Program as...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. NERC announced Thursday it will conduct a formal review of the effectiveness of its new supply chain standards, which take effect July 1. Howard Gugel, NERC’s vice president for engineering and standards, outlined the plan during the Board of Directors’ conference call Thursday, at which the...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — FERC officials are engaged in a debate with ReliabilityFirst over the rigor of the modeling transmission owners should undertake to identify "critical" substations. Matt Thomas, manager of critical infrastructure protection (CIP) compliance monitoring at ReliabilityFirst, told a Nov. 20 meeting of the RF Compliance...

By Holden Mann ATLANTA — The drafting team considering changes to supply chain standards may leave two key definitions in their current form due to concerns over scope creep and communication issues. The definitions relate to electronic access control or monitoring systems (EACMS) and physical access control systems (PACS), which...